This "racy" scene is from the New York stage comedy, "The Widow Jones," in which May Irwin and John Rice starred. According to Edison film historian C. Musser, the actors staged their kiss for the camera at the request of the New York World newspaper, and the resulting film was the most popular Edison Vitascope film in 1896.

The Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division

Rights information here:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/papr/west/westres.html

http://www.loc.gov/homepage/legal.html


This movie is part of the collection: Stock Footage

Producer: Thomas Edison
Audio/Visual: silent, black and white
Keywords: stock footage; historic; 1896; Rice, John; Irwin, May (1862-1938); early cinema; Thomas Edison; kissing; "The Widow Jones"; New York

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: 1110babe - - January 2, 2010
Subject: no better than they ought to be!
You can tell he's an awful rogue and she's loving it!

Reviewer: Robin_1990 - - February 27, 2008
Subject: Yet More Fun!
Another fun film, This time showing a couple kissing. Seeing films this old is quite amazing.